DANMEI Reading List (RAW) Pt. 2

373. Me And My Four Backup Dancers

Translator: Foxaholic

Chapters: 44 + 33 Extras

Tag: idol group, entertainment circle, misunderstandings

Synopsis:

When his Weibo alt account had been dug out, Yan Shuo's image as the "gentle and nice leader" of the currently popular boy group M.E.N crumbled overnight.

Smear post on a certain forum: "Congratulations to older brother Yan Shuo for becoming the alphabet group's new C-position! Happily obtained four useless backup dancers!"

Impressions: I've read the manwha before the novel, so my impression isn't really that unbiased.

So our MC is a member of an idol group. His 'setting' is to be the gentle and tolerant Captain of their group. In reality, MC is actually dissatisfied with their group, he felt like all the members (except him) are problematic: a drama queen, a playboy, an elementary school student and a stuck up guy (our ML :P). He opened an alt account on Weibo and basically vented all his dissatisfactions there...and then, his account was exposed by netizens. XD Because most of his rant was about the drama guy he was in CP with, their CP basically died and their agent asked him to form a new CP with ML.

ML is cold to all their members, but he's also very professional so this is basically supposed to be just "business". However, due to an accident XD, MC mistakenly added ML's QQ and thought he was an ordinary netizen girl. They chatted (ML knows its MC and treats him coldly) and in order to get the 'girl's' attention, MC pretended to confide his problems to her, telling her that he has an unrequited love with one of his colleagues and then gave ML's description cos he feels like he's the most normal one in their group. So ML believed that MC has a crush on him! He feels conscious of MC and would try to avoid him. When MC sees ML acting weird around him, he thought ML has a crush on him! HAHAHAHA... So there's a strange vibe going on between the two of them XD.

MC and ML is in a variety show where they have to stay in the same room and sleep in the same bed. One time, MC got drunk and...kissed ML! Many things happen, and they found out about the misunderstanding (Both of them DON'T have a crush on each other) but after this, ML proposed to be gun buddies(?)/Friends who 'help' each other feel good, since he thinks MC looks cute, they are both straight men so they are not worried about bending(???) plus they're in the same group, so they often stay together. MC muddleheadedly agreed. So began their days of kissing, hugging, 'helping' each other~ It's quite sweet.

And then MC starts thinking... just from the misunderstanding, you can see that MC tends to overthink or needlessly worry about things. So he starts to wonder if ML, in fact, likes him? Is he liking ML?  Something seems to be wrong with their current arrangement? After confiding with the group's playboy, Playboy told him to just go with the flow, sometimes its not necessary to get to the bottom of things, but of course, our MC WOULD choose to pursue it till the end. After learning that ML treats their...relationship nonchalantly (it's only MC who is worrying about it), he said to end their agreement.

Laters, ML comes to him again and said that after some introspection, he realizes he likes our MC. After a few days, they get together, some troubles, they come out to both their parents. Happy Ending~ Extras is MC & ML five years later, experiencing minor relationship bumps~

Like I said, I've already read the manwha so MC's impression has already been improved. His narcissism, dissing ML/his teammates  has already become cute in my eyes (Blame the chibis!). ML's...weird brain circuit as well has become more acceptable. I actually found it really strange cos in what universe are two straight guys okay to "help each other"? (in BL world of course!) I felt like it would be more...reasonable if ML was just using it as an excuse to bend MC, but he's actually serious about it. I think if MC never confronted ML about their 'relationship', they could very well have stayed as gun buddies for a very very long time cos ML was already satisfied with the status quo. Even before they got together, ML was already a good boyfriend though, sincere and considerate. Very gong! 

Overall, this is sweet but not so fluffy. Our MC has a lot of gaffe so more comedy. Except for MC's inner conflicts XD, not much drama~ Read this for two 'straight guys' getting together before bending.

Reco: The Idol Group and the Crown, for Idol Group romance but more serious and more career-oriented. Also, I Ship My Adversary x Me for a fluffier version.